What should i prune

I know February is really the month for pruning fig, but it flew past just way to fast! I'm researching a similar question. For sure, I know that not pruning a mature tree [mine is over ] will mean WAY too many fruiting branches, and less sweet fruit. I came looking to see It's pretty cold here still And thanks for asking!

Hi, we have a twenty meter row of fur trees 2. May I have some advice please as to when we should prune and cut back?

Many thanks and cheers Kerry. When "cutting to the ground" does mean to actually cut out all visable signs of the bush? I have a butterfly bush that went through a particually harsh winter in the NE. The thing is completely brown and lifeless. Essentially, that is what it means, Mike: cutting to within a few inches of ground level. Cut out all that brown lifelessness. Your butterfly bush should come back as good or better than ever.

Hi Marnie, To discourage growth means that the tree or bush will not grow back the pruned branches quickly. If you want a tree or bush to fill out quickly you prune during the encourage growth dates. Hi, Ellie: If you click on Spring Pruning Guide above, you can see that rhododendrons really should be pruned -- carefully -- in the spring, after they have flowered. You could do it now, but it would be best to wait. Thanks for asking!

I live in northern Indiana. It has been cold here for weeks. On an early December day I decided on a lark to prune back a trio of bushes I felt too tall.

When I had completed the job I thought the skeletons looked good but wondered if my timing was appropriate. I googled "winter Pruning" and got your site. It would appear I have infringed two rules: I pruned too early in winter and may have approached the "no more than a third of the bush" limit. Now I have expose my plants to winter scarring and or death. Will I be able to tell in late February if there is winter scarring? Would it be adviseable for me to prune back another inch or two in late February?

It depends on what type of bushes you have. Some varieties are more sensitive to winter scarring than others. Don't prune more this winter. Wait for spring growth and hopefully your bushes will be fine. It can be cut into a bush or trim bottom limbs and it grows into a tree. We had our first freeze about a week ago and it really froze the it. The trunk and limbs look ok. The blooms are at the top of the limb and have many little balls that open up with the purple color.

I live in North Texas and this is my first year with this plant and need to know if and when to trim it back. Thanks, Deb. It's hard to give pruning advice not knowing what type of blooming bush you have. Some bushes are pruned in early spring when they are dormant and others are pruned right after they are done blooming. Try to find out what type of bush you have before pruning. Look in catalogs or online to see if you can find a similar bush.

Or next year, when it is blooming, take a sample to your local garden center for help. We can have fruit trees starting to bud out quite early some years But this is also the plant that requires the most skill and education on good pruning technique. Again, there are three main types of ramblers that each require different techniques.

Identify which type of rambling rose you have purchased and find out the best technique for your unique variety. A good example and common rambler in home gardens these days are hybrid tea roses. These repeat flower during a season, show fair to good resistance to disease, and are easily trained against walls and fences. They reach a short height of four to five feet, so are excellent for smaller gardens.

At planting, do not hard prune back stems. Trim any long roots and only tip back damaged ends of stems and any weak side shoots.

Begin training the rose as you plant it. Do not force stiff stems, but whenever possible slant your pruning cuts in horizontal or angled cuts to encourage growth in that direction.

Between mid-autumn and spring, after the first year, cut back stems that flowered the previous year to about six inches. Cutting back these leaders allows new vigorous shoots and occasionally removing old stems at near ground level will encourage even more new growth. With rambling roses, you need to provide strong support in the form of either tripods, or rustic poles and metal frames, brick walls, or other older trees. Flexible stems can be tied up as necessary to maintain height until the plant itself develops some strong older shoots.

Training climbing roses requires patience and a good eye for direction, support, and art. Remember, pruning can be done wrong, and the plant will still survive and you start in a different direction with the plant.

If all else fails, cut way back and start again! Read more about pruning roses here. Shrubbery is the cornerstone of all garden beds.

Shrubs are either deciduous lose their leaves each year or evergreen. Many ornamental shrubs require only minimal pruning from one year to the next with just the cutting out of dead, diseased or damaged wood as soon as it is noticed. However, some shrubs need regular pruning to enhance the decorative impact of the plant, the flowering strength, and the overall shape of the plant in the gardeners design.

As with most plants, focusing your pruning on the early young years of the plant establishes a well balanced framework. Some shrubs do not produce new growth from the base, magnolias and witch hazels being examples of this, and so just giving them a haircut occasionally is enough to keep them looking groomed and healthy.

For these plants, at planting remove any weak growth. And then in the spring of the second year, make any corrective cuts necessary to begin laying out the shape that you desire in the shrub. Look at the basic plant and remove any laterals or extensions growths that are too closely spaced. This lays the basic framework for how and in what direction your shrub will flourish.

In the third and following years, little more than routine pruning to remove dead or diseased wood is required. These shrubs sometimes will produce what I call an independent shoot that just zooms out from the base. Many of these deciduous shrubs produce flowers in spring or early summer. Forsythia is a vivid common example. To maintain their profuse floral displays, you should cut out a proportion of the wood in late spring or early summer. If left unpruned, these plants often have lots of twiggy growth and sparse spattering of flowers.

The annual cutting out of dead or old wood allows development of new replacement shoots low down on the shrub and these new shoots will flower freely the following year. Most plants purchased at a nursery will have had a couple of years of good framework pruning to establish a good structure from the beginning. But as these shrubs flower, new growth develops below the flowering wood. The strongest shoots are those lowest on the stem, and these are the best to select as shoots when pruning.

Leave them and encourage their growth by removing old wood. Cut the old and leave the young is the best rule of thumb for flowering shrubs. Every garden has evergreen shrubs.

All of them have widely varying needs for pruning and you should consult your garden store or nursery for exact pruning advice or consult a good gardening book.

Pruning of evergreens can vary from broadleaf examples like lavender, dwarf conifers , and even camellias and rhododendrons. If left to their own devices there are a number of small evergreen shrubs that tend to not do well. They will produce fewer and fewer flowers and eventually become quite bare at the base. Lavender is a good example of this. These shrubs need to be cut back hard in their first year and in following years in mid-spring, just as new growth is starting.

Although dead flowers can be removed in autumn, in cold areas it is best leave them on to protect the plant from severe cold. Pruning in mid-spring works best.

And then new growth that year will emerge. I cannot emphasize enough for the beginning gardener the need to keep good written records and notes. I suggest you purchase a nice binder with pockets, dividers, etc. For each plant that you buy, create a folder. Yes, an entire folder!

In this folder write the correct scientific name. Consult gardening books, online sites, your local nursery or extension office for advice. Treat each plant as an investment of time, love, resources, and labour. Write down the care instructions, the pruning times, the garden placement.

Identify your plants, get to know them well, care for them properly. A good gardener goes into his or her garden each day and does regular daily tasks of deadheading , weeding, supporting, feeding, and watering as necessary. I think often, too much emphasis is placed on watering and feeding and not enough on grooming and removing diseased and dead branches, stems, and flowers. Do the research you need to find healthy plants, and then care for them like your children and your pets.

Your garden plants are living beings and need nurturing to excel and reach their full potential! I was really unclear on this before reading your article but I understand the importance of it all now! If you live in zone 7 or less, have slow growing plants, and like the look of naturally growing plants, why prune?

For fruits and nuts I think it is OK. Prune for bigger and fewer flowers, or more and smaller ones. Let it be. Take away dead or sick branches. It is much better to give the plants room to grow and starting to cut them back because of your bad planning does not promote health. The same with topping, shearing, etc. Topiary gives more healthy plants? Topping gives more healthy plants? I have never seen these in nature. I got so much from this article.

I am now aware of how to care for my perennials and also I now know that my lilac bush is a total loss????. I am going to dig it up and start over again. I am pretty new at this and I love it so very much. This is a brilliant article and I will keep reading.

Just want to be clear. I have already made up an excel sheet with all my info on each plant. So useful to have, takes time but well worth it. Hey Hazel! Avoid pruning evergreen shrubs in the fall. Fall pruned evergreens are more susceptible to winter injury. February through March is generally regarded as the best time to prune most deciduous trees. The absence of foliage at this time of year gives the individual a clear view of the tree and allows the selection and removal of appropriate branches.

Also, the walling-off or compartmentalization of wounds occurs most rapidly just prior to the onset of growth in spring. Oaks are an exception. The winter months — December, January, and February — are the best time to prune oak trees.

Deciduous trees can be pruned at other times of the year with little or no negative consequences. However, if possible, avoid pruning deciduous trees in spring when the trees are leafing out and in fall when the trees are dropping their leaves. To reduce the risk of an oak wilt infection, do not prune oaks from March through October. Oak wilt is a fungal disease that is lethal to many oaks. It can spread from infected trees to healthy trees by sap-feeding beetles "picnic bugs".

If an oak tree must be pruned in spring or summer such as after a storm , apply latex housepaint to the pruning cuts to avoid attracting sap-feeding beetles to the wounds. Late February to early April is the best time to prune fruit trees in Iowa. Pruning should be completed before the fruit trees begin to break bud leaf out in early spring.

Evergreen trees, such as pine, spruce, and fir, require little pruning. Dead, broken, and diseased branches can be removed at any time of year. Late winter is the best time to remove unwanted lower branches on evergreen trees.

Spruce and fir trees possess side or lateral buds on their newest outermost growth. To promote denser growth, cut shoots back to just above a lateral bud or side branch in early spring.